Allen Iverson denies ever abducting his children, who have since been returned to their mom

One day after reporting that Allen Iverson's ex-wife had filed court documents accusing him of refusing to return their five children following a planned vacation, TMZ now reports that the children were returned to their mother after a court hearing last week in which the former Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies guard denied ever "abducting" them in the first place.

In her filings, Tawanna Iverson claimed that Allen Iverson requested and received permission to take the children, who range from 3 years old to 16 year sold, on a trip to Charlotte, N.C., from May 22 through 26, but didn't return the kids on the 26th; Tawanna suspected they never actually went to Charlotte, but rather stayed with her ex-husband in an Atlanta hotel. A subsequent return scheduled for June 4 was scuttled when Allen Iverson didn't show up at the agreed-upon Target, according to Tawanna Iverson.

We knew Allen Iverson had countered by filing documents denying his ex-wife's charges; now, via TMZ, we know he offered a denial in person in court last week, as well:

Allen appeared in Fulton County court in Georgia last Wednesday and told the judge his ex-wife had full access to their kids during their stay at the hotel ... and therefore he wasn't doing anything wrong. We're told Tawanna also testified that she could have picked up the children from Allen but didn't want to drive 45 minutes to his location.

After A.I.'s testimony, the judge decided the former Philadelphia 76ers star didn't deserve to be thrown in jail — despite his ex-wife's request before the hearing. The kids [...] were returned to their mother following the hearing.

The site also reports that Allen and Tawanna Iverson have "worked out some of their issues" and that Tawanna, who received sole legal custody of the children in the couple's divorce settlement, has begun to allow Allen to spend more time with the children. He was apparently doing just that on Monday, when he spoke with Jeff Hullinger of Atlanta's WXIA-TV as he and his children (who are deliberately not shown in the video below) walked to his car in the parking lot of the Sheraton Suites Galleria in Atlanta:

"They say I stole my own kids?" Iverson asked Hullinger, who offered to show the former All-Star the court documents filed by his ex-wife. "All right."

"Is that not true?" Hullinger asked.

"That's up to you to believe," Iverson responded. "I'm not going to comment on it. If that's what you believe, and that's what people think I'm crazy enough to do, then so be it."

As Iverson got into his Maybach after getting his children buckled into the car, Hullinger asked if felt he was being treated fairly in the matter.

"I ain't never treated fairly," Iverson said with a laugh. "I don't expect to. I don't expect to be."

With that, Iverson drove off.